World wrestling names Antim Panghal Women’s Rising Star of the Year 2023
The Indian wrestler won her second U20 title this year, won a silver medal at the Asian championships and bronze at the world championships and Asian Games.
Wrestling
India’s Antim Panghal was named the women’s Rising Star of the Year 2023 by United World Wrestling (UWW), the world governing body of the sport, on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old Indian wrestler, who competes in the 53kg weight category, has enjoyed a stellar season, overshadowing her senior counterpart Vinesh Phogat, who wrestles in the same category.
Antim Panghal started her season with a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. In the final, she lost to Japan’s Akari Fujinami, who is yet to lose a senior bout in her career.
Antim is also the reigning U20 world champion, having successfully defended her title in Amman, Jordan this August. The wrestler from Haryana is the only two-time junior world champion from India.
Making her senior world championships debut in Belgrade, Serbia in September, Antim won the bronze medal after beating Sweden’s two-time European champion Jonna Malmgren in the medal bout. In the process, Antim also secured a Paris 2024 Olympic quota for India in the women’s 53kg category.
A month later, at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, Antim won another bronze medal after beating Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Bat-Ochir Bolortuya of Mongolia in the medal match. It also marked the Indian grappler’s debut at the continental multi-sport event.
Greece’s Georgios Kougioumtsidis, meanwhile, won the Rising Star of the Year award in the men’s freestyle and Azerbaijan’s Hasrat Jafarov took the honours in the Greco-Roman category.